Pluto creator opens up on “monumental” Astro Boy reboot

In an interview with Netflix, the co-creator of Pluto, Naoki Urasawa, talks about his inspirations and what led him to work on the latest anime series on Netflix.

The eight-episode anime series Pluto arrived on Netflix in October 2023, and it was a hit, garnering all the praise it deserved – it even landed at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Coming after a masterpiece like Monster, Pluto is another title proving to be a treat for his fans.

It is an anime that can simultaneously bring you happiness and sorrow, thanks to its intriguing plotline. In a recent interview, Naoki Urasawa opened up about the creation of Pluto, which is actually a darker version of the famous manga Astro Boy.

Let’s delve deeper into the article to learn about the creator’s vision and his thought process when he worked on the anime.

Naoki Urasawa opens up regarding Pluto’s making

Naoki Urasawa is a legendary manga artist who has worked on Pluto and gathered considerable appreciation. However, things were never straightforward when he decided to work on the sci-fi anime series.

In a recent interview, Urasawa said that his first encounter with the Astro Boy universe was at the age of around four or five when his parents introduced him to Osamu Tezuka’s work for the first time. He was so mesmerized by the manga that he used to read it day and night. He also started copying the illustrations along with Tezuka’s autograph.

He then talked about the day when Tezuka Productions decided to bring the manga industry together for a project to celebrate the birth of Astro Boy. And that’s when Urasawa asked: “Is there any manga artist with the guts to remake ‘The Greatest Robot on Earth?'”

Initially, every editor asked Urasawa to work on it, but he refused, believing he couldn’t handle the pressure. One day, the topic came up again when he worked with an editor he had known for a long time. Urasawa and the editor discussed what would happen if the cool robotic detective Gesicht from the Astro Boy universe got his own story. Urasawa was so impressed with the idea that he wasn’t ready to let it go – so, finally, he sent his drawings to Tezuka Productions.

After an entire year, he received a call from the director of Tezuka Productions, Macoto Tezuka, who invited him for dinner. After having their meal, Macoto surprised Urasawa by saying he wanted to hand over Pluto’s responsibility to him. At first, Urasawa continued drawing the characters the way Tezuka drew them, but Macoto asked him to draw everything his way.

Even though Macoto Tezuka trusted him entirely, Urasawa remained under pressure to deliver the project to the readers without destroying it.

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